


No Avatar Stands Alone

by ItsaVikingThing



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Humour, Korra being incredibly smooth, One of these tags is a lie, What-If, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21696991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: Korra is sixteen, newly arrived in Republic City, and excited to attend a school where she won't be the only pupil and where she can make friends her own age.She is, of course, alsoterrifiedof all of those things, because normal for everyone else is new and different for Korra. But Korra isn't alone in facing the ordeal of a new school and talking to a nice, pretty girl who might just become a new friend. No, for better or worse, Korra has a lot of veryoldfriends looking out for her...
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 55
Kudos: 220
Collections: Finishedstoriesmine





	No Avatar Stands Alone

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this in September for Korrasami week, then abandoned it when Korrasami week ended and the fic didn't. I dusted it off recently, and hey! Turns out it didn't need much work to finish it!

When she's still a young child, Avatar Korra moves to a guarded compound, isolated from the world by walls and White Lotus soldiers. Her education is supplied by a variety of renowned master benders and teachers, but she takes all of her lessons alone. There are no other children at the compound, and the only young companion Korra has is her polar bear dog, Naga.

One day, when Korra is seven, her parents ask her if she ever feels lonely. Korra's response, given with a frown and a scrunched up nose, is that she has never felt lonely even once in her life, but she wishes that she had some people her age to play with sometimes.

Korra's parents miss some of the implications of that answer, but they do share their concerns with Korra's other guardians. It leads to a lot of arguing. It also leads to a revelation that makes one of Korra's meditation teachers--who had endured years of Korra rolling her eyes and ignoring his every lesson up that point--leave in a fit of rage little in keeping with her normally tranquil demeanour. Most importantly of all, as far as Korra is concerned, the arguing leads to two changes being made to the plan for the Avatar's upbringing. First, visiting teachers and masters will be allowed to bring their children to visit the Avatar. Second, when Korra turns sixteen, she'll finish her education at an academy in Republic City.

Korra is delighted by both of these ideas, but as much as she enjoys her time with the children brought to the compound, it's rare that she has a chance to build a stable and lasting bond. It's rare, too, that Korra shares lesson time with other children. In many ways, Korra remains isolated.

Maybe that's why, as Korra grows older, Republic City looms larger and larger in her mind, and the prospect of going to a school with other pupils becomes exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure.

The day finally arrives when Korra moves to Republic City. The night before she is due to start school, Korra lies in her bed, a sleepless mass of nervous energy. She's alone in her room, of course, but just has been the case throughout her life in times of crisis, Korra is no way lonely.

* * *

The next day, Korra goes to her new school. She gets there far too early, and then she waits, on the other side of the street, watching the building as the sun climbs into the sky, watching as first teachers and then pupils begin to arrive, watching while she works on summoning the nerve to cross the street and go into the building. She had hoped to make her first day a low-key affair, with as few of the attendant complications that come with being the Avatar as possible. But it was naive to imagine that she'd be allowed to mingle with other teenagers for the first time in her life without some kind of chaperone.

"I regret to say that the style of clothing in this institution is most unsuitable, Avatar Korra," Heng murmurs in Korra's ear. "I urge you to allow your gaze to rise in contemplation of the way that water and air combine in the clouds above, for there are boys and girls _both_ displaying their bare ankles here, and even their calves! I am distressed to admit, I have even glimpsed bare _knees_!"

Heng has never been Korra's favourite. When in repose, he keeps his hands hidden in his voluminous silk sleeves. When he speaks in his lilting but precise voice he hides his mouth behind one of his hands, keeping his hand hidden inside his sleeve even then. Korra has only been able to infer the existence of Heng's fingers from the way his knuckles dimple the fabric of his blue silk jacket. As offputting as she finds Heng's habit of concealment, it's his eyes that really bug her. His eyes always look shocked at what his mouth is saying. Or maybe he's simply shocked that his mouth would do something so improper as speak at all.

"Perhaps it would be judicious to abandon this venture," Heng continues, "until a petition can be made to the head of this _supposed_ academy, and a suitable dress code has been implemented?"

His eyes and everything Heng ever says are what bug Korra the most about him.

Korra sighs and reminds herself that it isn't really Heng's fault. If she wasn't nervous, she wouldn't have got here so early and stopped across the street from the school building, sizing things up. If she wasn't so nervous, Heng likely wouldn't have said anything at all.

At least he isn't berating her for wearing trousers instead of a robe. She supposes that being confronted with a pair of kneecaps this early in the day has given Heng reason to be, if not thankful about how Korra dresses, then tactful enough not to berate her.

"This is my first day at my new school," Korra says with all the patience she can muster. "I'm not going to miss it. And I'm not _petitioning_ anyone! I think I can handle ankles, calves and, yeah, maybe even knees."

Heng bites his sleeve, concealing a gasp.

Korra tries not laugh. "Heng...this isn't the Earth Kingdom a thousand years ago! This is Republic City right now! And this is my chance to maybe make some real friends. Uh, I mean...friends my age."

"As you say, Avatar Korra." Heng raises both arms and bows his head. Korra wonders if he's pulling faces behind his sleeves. Then she wonders if Heng ever pulled a face in his life. Heng lowers one arm to his side and hides his mouth with the other. "It is not my place to judge these...modern institutions."

The tone of his voice leaves Korra in no doubt that he has in fact made his judgement and that if only someone were to act on it, Madame Fang's Finishing School would have been condemned before Korra's precious, Avatar eyes could be sullied by the sight of naked calves.

"You _are_ nervous, Korra," rumbles Nuraq at her side. He's the same height as Korra, but nearly three times her size. Korra wears a pelt around her waist over her trousers, but Nuraq wears an array of pelts stitched into a garment the size of a tent that barely covers the whole, mountainous expanse of his frame. "You are telling everyone around you that you are afraid. They will sense it. They will attack. Show less of yourself. Be more vigilant of those around you."

"Oh, come on! No one's going to attack me here! It's a school. Which is new for me, is all. Same with all these people with their ankles going into it, they're new people and that's...ah, how many people do you think are in there? Y'know...people my age with or without visible ankles?"

"Korra! No good can come of dwelling on such matters!" Heng flaps one of his sleeves in distress. "Think instead of the solidity of the stone beneath your feet! It is unmoving, unmoved! Be like the stone! Ankle yourself in the stone!"

"I think you mean anchor," Korra points out. "But thanks?"

Heng bites both of his sleeves at once.

Korra rubs her chin as she considers the building across the street. Its high wooden walls, coated in fresh and vibrant paint, conceal most of the facilities within but while most of the structures can only be one storey high, the walls enclose a _lot_ of space. Korra's previous educational requirements were met by one room and a sparring circle. "It's, uh, it's a big school, isn't it?"

"If you were using your eyes to _see_ ," Nuraq growls, "you would have counted forty-three potential combatants entering this structure over the course of the time we have...idled here."

"Com--?" Korra grits her teeth. "They aren't combatants, they're students!"

"Students of combat," Nuraq says, a hint of smugness caught somewhere in the grinding boulders of his voice. "Thus, _potential_ combat--"

" _It's NOT a combat school_!" Korra explains, reaching for calm but missing quite badly. "It's where I'm meant to learn all the other stuff an Avatar needs that isn't about fighting! And I'm _nervous_ because I've almost never been in the same room as _anyone_ my age before and did you say _forty-three_?"

"Three boys and two girls entered while you were engaged in heated discourse with the uncouth lout," Heng points out helpfully from behind his sleeve. "That takes the total to forty-eight."

Nuraq grunts, his eyes narrowing as he looks at Heng. "No combat training...then what use is it?"

"It's going to be _so_ useful," Korra snaps, hoping that it will be. Tenzin did discuss something called a syllabus with her last night but Korra's gotten pretty good at looking like she's listening to boring things while she is, in fact, not listening to boring things because she hates being bored. "In so many ways! On so many levels! You'll see, Nuraq. When I walk in there, you'll see. And I will walk in there. Any minute!" 

Korra glares at the school. A second passes. She licks her lips. "Help. My legs won't work."

"Hmph. Might be poison," Nuraq says, scratching his belly. "People who can't fight use poison sometimes. That's what killed me. Poison in my shrimp-whale blubber."

" _What_?" Korra gapes at him. "How is that helping? Is you saying I might be _dying_ supposed to be _helping_?"

"Feh. You're not coughing up enough blood for it to _really_ be poison. Listen, child." Nuraq places one hand, bigger than any of Naga's paws, on Korra's shoulder. Korra suspects that her knees would buckle if Nuraq was here in anything other than spirit form, but Avatar Nuraq has been dead for nearly five thousand years. "You'll be fine. Just eat and drink nothing while you're in there. Keep your back to the walls at all times and protect your kidneys from knives and ice bending. Oh, and if you're nervous, shatter the bones of the first fool to defy you. Trust me, child, break one fool who doesn't even _deserve_ to have bones, and the other forty-seven of your foes in this place shall weep and tremble in your presence, leaving you exultant!"

He nods, then vanishes back to wherever her past lives go when they're not making her current life difficult.

"Wha...none of that was good advice, Nuraq! Not one bit of it! Because, first of all, I'm _always_ hungry so I'm definitely going to eat something! Second, it's a SCHOOL, not a war! I'm not going to shatter anyone's bones!" Korra yells, shaking her fist at the air Nuraq has sublimated himself into. She pauses, then rubs her chin and looks at her fingers. "And I wasn't coughing up _any_ blood at all! You...you unlout couth!"

"Most unseemly," murmurs the former Avatar Heng. "Oh, how unseemly!"

Korra rounds on him, determined to find out exactly _who_ he's calling unseemly, but she groans when she sees that Heng is not alone. "Oh, come on! No, not this many of you. Not today! Please?"

Perhaps in her new school Korra will learn the correct noun to describe a gathering of multiple Avatar spirits, but for now she settles on _confusion_. The confusion of Avatar spirits numbers nearly twenty, from a variety of historical eras given their garb, and all doubtless keen to offer Korra more words of advice like Nuraq's.

Avatar Roku is the first to ignore her plea. He strides forward, sternly saying, "There's no need to be nervous, Korra! So stop being nervous. Now!"

"Uh, sure... " Korra fights an eyeroll. "That's helpful."

"So disrespectful," laments Heng, shielding his eyes with his sleeve. "Oh, how disrespectful!"

Korra does roll her eyes this time, which unfortunately means she catches the eye of the wizened Avatar Maoshin. An instant later, one of her claw-like, spectral blue hands is pinching Korra's cheek.

"Such a sweet little Avatar! Yes you are! Oh, your cheeks used to be so much more plump, but I can still pinch them!" Maoshin cackles happily while Korra slowly dies of embarrassment. "You shouldn't bark at her so, Roku! You should seek the root of her discomfort instead. Discomfort is like a weed. Eh? And what are we now if not gardeners in our sweet, pouty little Korra-kins' spiritual garden? Mm?"

"Anything else?" Korra croaks. "Please let the answer be literally _anything_ else."

It earns her another cackle, but at least Maoshin stops pinching her with her not quite insubstantial enough ghost fingers.

"Korra..." Avatar Yangchen says softly, emerging form the crowd. "Your devotion to your duties as the Avatar is not in question, but I fear you do question your ability to mingle successfully with the peers of your generation."

"I don't question that!" Korra protests, her anger doing nothing to crack Yangchen's dumb airbender composure. "I don't even know what a peer is! That'd be my question, if I was asking any questions. Which I'm not! I'm not going to school to ask _questions_."

Yangchen inclines her head, but not before Korra catches a hint of a smile. "Perhaps I misspoke."

Korra's shoulders sag. "Yeah...Avatar Yangchen, famed for not being an effective speaker. Sure."

"What my learned airbender spiritual sister with the great tattoos _means_ ," says the voice of Avatar Aang as he appears above Korra's head and floats gently to the ground, "is that you're nervous about fitting in at school and making friends. Right?"

"Well...wouldn't you be?!"

"Noooo." Aang scratches his head. "People are very friendly, Korra, in my experience. Unless they're trying to kill you. But you know what they say: the person trying to kill you today is a smile away from being tomorrow's best friend!"

"No one says that," Korra grumbles, earthbending a pebble out of the sidewalk so she can moodily kick it away. "And don't even tell me _you_ used to say that, because I don't believe anything you say about anything you ever said anymore! Not since I was nine and Tenzin gave me the Aang Talk!"

"He's such a good kid," Aang sighs. "But he could afford to relax a little more. What harm did my stories ever do?"

"Oh, I don't know! Remember that time I tried to make the White Lotus annex Harbour City and start a new nation?"

"Aaaaah!" Maoshin is there, her spindly fingers pinching gleefully at Korra's cheek. "You were the most adorable would-be tyrant with the plumpest little tyrannical cheeks!"

"Perhaps the issue is that Korra hopes this day will lead her not merely to new friends, but to Avatar companions," Roku interjects, stroking his beard in a pose he probably hopes makes him look thoughtful but Korra thinks is really designed to keep his beard safe from Maoshin's pinching fingers. "All Avatars need a circle of companions, and Korra--"

"What about that girl?" An unfamiliar voice offers. "She looks...capable. Perhaps Korra should start with her."

Korra blinks. She looks around, spotting a young woman parking some kind of small, two-wheeled motorised vehicle down the street from the school. A Satocycle? Korra thinks it's called that. The girl wears a helmet and a red and black uniform consisting of an immaculately tailored jacket over equally snug trousers. As Korra watches, the girl takes off her helmet, shaking out the cascading waves of her long, black hair and revealing a young, beautiful face.

"Her?" 

Korra scoffs, but her stomach clenches and she can feel sweat forming on the back of her neck. This girl with her shiny Satocycle, her shinier hair, her expensive clothes, her makeup...it's hard to imagine Korra meeting anyone she's less likely to get on with. It's hard to imagine there could be anyone at this school Korra would struggle to make a connection with more.

And not, says the pit in Korra's stomach, because the _other_ girl was lacking; that girl has likely spent her whole life talking to people her age and making friends with people who exist in the physical world. That girl almost seems to glow in the early morning light, too perfect and pretty and poised for Korra to relate to.

"I don't think...huh."

To Korra's surprise, the prim, beautiful girl stows her helmet then opens a container on the side of her Satocycle. She adjusts her gloves, produces a small set of tools, crouches down and sets to work fiddling with some mechanism on her vehicle.

"Huh." Korra watches the girl work, admiring her dexterity and her utter lack of concern about the dangers the dirt and grease she's dealing with represent to her clothes. She avoids dirtying them, not through wariness but the ease of long familiarity. Her movements are too deft and assured to be anything other than gained through experience. Korra finds the sight of the girl at work baffling yet mesmerising. "Huh," she murmurs again, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Hmm, capable indeed," muses Roku behind Korra.

Heng sighs. "Her ankles _are_ covered, at least. Making conversation with her would not be a _significant_ deviation from good etiquette."

As various former Avatars begin to voice their opinion of the girl, Korra feels her stomach clamp down tighter and her blood begin to simmer. She turns on them all, and claps her hands to get their attention.

"Okay! Okaaaay! Thanks, but I'm gonna need you all to back up!" Korra waves her arms, hoping she can herd them like porcupine-sheep. "Aaaall the way back into my soul or wherever you sleep when you're not...uh...what are you all looking at?"

Korra looks over shoulder, and across the street.

The world seems to still and Korra becomes aware that she is no longer alone. Or rather, Korra realises that she is no longer _unobserved_. For nearly an hour, Korra has been preparing herself to enter the school and for that whole time she's been ignored by the other students entering the building. But now, whether through chance or fate or the fact that she was just yelling at thin air like a maniac, Korra is being stared at by the tall girl across the street.

"Okay, new plan! Everybody shut up for a minute so I don't look weird!" Korra hisses. She blinks. "Wait, she can't see you! _I'm_ making myself look weird!"

The tall girl stares at Korra. "Are...you okay?"

"Is now an opportune time to remind you that we are visible and audible _only_ to you, Korra?" Heng asks in a tone so polite Korra knows he's faking it. "It is a fact you should remember, and yet you always seem so surprised when--"

"Yeah, I know!" Korra hisses, then bites back a curse. She addresses the tall girl in a louder voice. "Haha, I mean! Yeah, I'm fine!"

The girl--who has quite astonishingly green eyes--stares at her, obviously unconvinced. Korra swallows. "I'm just...nervous. Because I'm new! Which, uh, is why I'm nervous?"

The girl laughs, and it's such a pleasant sound that Korra finds herself relaxing. At least, she does until the girl peels off her gloves, stows them with her tools, and starts walking towards Korra.

"I still see no need for you to be nervous," says Roku in his commanding voice. "I enjoyed my time in a school not unlike this one when I was in training. And now you have an opportunity to make a new friend! This should make you less nervous. Be less nervous!"

"Roku, I will find a way to spirit-shave that beard off you if you keep telling me not to be nervous!" Korra whispers furiously.

Roku scoffs, but he takes a wary step back.

"No, no! He's got a point. I had fun in one of those Fire Nation academies, too!" Aang says cheerfully, leaning a friendly elbow on Korra's shoulder. "Some of the lessons were questionable, but the dancing was good!"

"Dancing?" Korra gapes at him, her heart speeding up. "No one mentioned dancing!"

"Aang's dancing was not part of the curriculum," Roku grumbles into his beard. "And the lessons were _beyond_ questionable."

"In fact, Air Master Tenzin _did_ mention, in his impeccable summation of your forthcoming studies--" Heng begins, but he stops abruptly.

"Ah, there won't be a dance until the end of term? You're safe today." The girl from across the street is now right in front of Korra, smiling a friendly but puzzled smile. She pushes the mass of her lustrous black hair behind her ears and says, "Hi! I'm Asami. It's nice to meet you...?"

"He was looking tired," Aang muses, running a hand over his bald head. "Tenzin I mean. Did he look tired to you, Heng?"

"Could you not?" Korra hisses. Aang and Heng have never got along, and Korra has no desire to see the two of then get into an argument while she's supposed to be concetrating on...the girl! "Oh, no! I mean--"

"Could I not what?" Asami asks, her tone noticeably frostier. 

"Ah! No, sorry, not you!" Korra shakes her head frantically. "I'm Korra! And you're really nice, and I appreciate it! I'm just..." Korra slumps. "Dancing terrifies me? For some reason? So I was not at my best there, because, uh, someone told me there'd be dancing."

Korra glares at Aang, who grins at her.

"You should never be afraid of dancing," Aang gently admonishes her. "It's always fun, it's good exercise and it lets you get close to handsome boys...and pretty girls!"

And, in the single most embarrassing moment of Korra's life, Avatar Aang, the saviour of the world, the bringer of peace, the founder of Republic City, nods at Asami then winks at Korra. Korra thinks that Asami, with her fair skin, is in serious danger of getting burned by the heat of Korra's blush.

Asami tilts her head, studying Korra and that somehow makes Korra's blush worse. "Korra. Like...the Avatar?"

Korra hesitates.

"Tell her," Roku urges her. "Who knows, perhaps she could become one of your companions?"

"You don't have to, though," Aang says cheerfully. "It's sort of traditional to hide your identity when you go to school. I did!"

"That is not a _tradition_ ," squeaks Heng, his eyes outraged, his sleeve billowing at the force of his words.

"You concealed your identity as a matter of precaution to evade those who hunted you, did you not?" Avatar Remora steps forward and leans _her_ elbow on Korra's other shoulder. Her long, long hair is in a traditional Fire Nation top knot that reaches her ankles. It slaps Korra's side a moment after Remora comes to a halt. She tugs at her chin with thumb and forefinger as she considers Asami, but she continues to address Aang. "It's hardly a tradition if it only happened once. And even if it were, Korra isn't being hunted. It doesn't apply." She pokes Korra in the side. "Say something to the nice girl, Korra! Talking _is_ traditional in conversations, young Avatar!"

"Uh, right! The Avatar!" Korra shakes herself. "Yeah, so--"

Aang snorts. "How many of you ever sent children of yours to a school? All of them hide who they are to some extent, if only because they don't _know_ who they are yet. Figuring that out can be tough. Hiding and pretending are tools we all use to survive and to grow when we're kids. It _is_ kind of a tradition. It's Korra's choice who she wants to be while she's working out who she is."

The entire confusion of Avatars, Korra included, stare at him.

"What?" He kicks off of the ground and crosses his legs in mid-air, where he hangs, staring back at them at all. He puts his hands behind his head and grins. "I _was_ the Avatar for a while, you know. I didn't just spread wisdom through dance!"

"All of us were the Avatar. And that dancing incident hardly counts as wisdom," Roku mutters quietly. Korra notices that he tends to keep his criticism of other Avatars quiet, and she thinks it's because he doesn't want any of them to become too critical of _him_. 

Sometimes Korra wonders what sorts of conversations her past lives have when they rest in the parts of her soul that her mind can't reach.

"You did also ride an array of animals..." Remora mutters. She shakes her head disapprovingly, slapping Korra with her hair again. "In entirely non-traditional ways!"

"And you pursued such a course of action outside of the strict requirements of battle or seeking transportation," Heng adds with a disapproving tut. "Most undignified!"

"Oooh, but it was fun!" Aang's grin widens. "Korra, we should go to the zoo! Republic City has a great zoo!"

Rolling her eyes, Korra is about to remind Aang that she has to go to school when she remembers that she has to say something to Asami.

Asami is staring at her again. Her hand is raised, her fingers half-curled, as if she's debating whether or not to reach out and touch Korra. Her very green, very lovely eyes look very worried.

"Oh, spirits, I'm sorry!" Korra scrubs her face with her hands, groaning. When she looks up, Asami is still there, still watching her with concern. But not fear, Korra realises, and not pity. Just concern for the wellbeing of someone she doesn't even know, someone everyone else so far has been content to ignore. Korra sucks in a breath and straightens her spine. She smiles nervously at Asami, and makes her choice. "Yeah, I'm Avatar Korra. I'm, uh, sometimes when I'm nervous I, uh, commune with my past lives. You caught me in the middle of...communing."

"Oh? Oh." Asami uses her raised hand to brush back her impossibly shiny black hair. She returns Korra's smile with an added dose of smirk. "Are you sure you weren't having a panic attack? You looked a little like you were having a panic attack."

"Uh, no! I was...communing. It's very, uh, spiritual, so I understand your confusion!" Asami raises her eyebrows, and her smirk gets even more pronounced. Korra finds she _likes_ that smirk, so she pushes on. "Yelling is a very important part of the spiritual process, you know."

"Oooh, really?" Asami laughs, and that's even better than her smirk. "What about the flailing arms? And all the sweat? Are they part of spiritual communion too?"

"Uh..." Korra looks around. A confusion of Avatars stare blankly back at her. Korra sighs, letting her shoulders slump. "Yeah? Maybe not for other Avatars..." Korra sees a lot of shaking heads in her peripheral vision. "But for me? I think anxiety _is_ my process."

Asami chuckles. She seems to reach a decision of her own, reaching out to pat Korra's shoulder. "Trying to adjust to a new situation can make anyone anxious. I'll admit, though, it's...kind of nice to know that even the Avatar gets nervous about day-to-day things like school."

"Well...thanks! I think?" Korra finds herself grinning. It turns out making friends is way easier than she expected. "Don't worry, though, I'm calm during actual crises! I took care of some thieves the other day, for instance, and _barely_ got arrested! It was...uh, no, wait!"

Korra's grin fades when her brain catches up with her mouth. Beside her, the shade of Avatar Remora facepalms.

" _Arrested_? You got arrested for stopping thieves?" 

Asami laughs again, her head thrown back, her eyes squeezed shut, her shoulders shaking. Even though she's the one being laughed at, Korra can't get mad about it. Asami completely losing her poise is one of the cutest things Korra has ever seen.

And with her head tipped back, Korra can see the expanse of Asami's throat: so much smooth, pale skin...Korra wrenches her eyes away, silently cursing Heng for focusing so much on the dangers of things below the knee. Korra has just discovered how dangerous the neck can be, how devastating hair can be, how deadly green eyes can be...Korra tries to stop thinking about how beautiful Asami's face is. And _of course_ , the instant she does she starts to wonder what Asami's ankles looks like.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Avatar Korra! I think this is going to make for a really interesting year." Asami sighs. "But we should probably get inside, or we'll be late."

"Oh! Right!" To Korra's relief and delight, she finds her legs responding this time, allowing her to follow Asami across the steeet. "Yeah, don't want to be late."

"So..." Asami glances at Korra, nibbling at her lip with her perfect teeth. "Do you commune with your past lives often?"

"Oh..." Korra looks behind her at the confusion of Avatars trailing in her wake as she goes through the main doors of the school. There are even more of them now than last time. "Now and then, yeah. It...they can be a bit much sometimes, to be honest."

"I suppose, if they're so present in your life...they must put even more expectation on you. That must be hard."

Asami leads Korra through a small reception hall, and out into a large courtyard. It's full of flowers and trees, all beautiful and of kinds Korra has never seen before. Some of her past lives spread out, wandering around the garden.

"Oh. Hm? Right, expectations! They're pretty encouraging, really. But it can be annoying when they argue over whose turn it is to sit if there aren't enough empty chairs in a room for them."

"What?" Asami bursts out laughing. She stops walking, clutching at her middle as she faces Korra. "They do not! Do they?"

"Well..." Korra hopes she doesn't sound as uncertain as she feels. "Each one of them had time to get used to being the most important person in pretty much any room they walked into when they were alive. They're all the Avatar...I guess it's an adjustment for them, when there's a bunch of them around at the same time."

Asami gives her a strange look. "Not for you?"

"Oh. Sure! Life is a series of adjustments, made in response to circumstances that are never ideal." Korra shrugs. "Yangchen's words, not mine."

Asami frowns for a moment so brief Korra thinks she might have imagined it. "It's your life, Korra. What do _you_ say?"

"Uh..." Korra isn't used to anyone who isn't one of the ghosts inside her head asking her a question like that. She's used to teachers and scholars trying to get past her to the lives she once lived, for their wisdom and their insights. And she's so used to the past Avatars arguing about which bits of wisdom Korra should listen to in any given moment, she's slightly shocked when Asami simply waits patiently for an answer.

For _Korra_ 's answer. It makes Korra want to give Asami a real one.

"I guess I...feel like I'm still waiting for it to start, in a way? My life, I mean. I've spent so long in the one place, training...I've only been here a week. Republic City doesn't feel real yet. But it also already feels like where I should have always been? I don't...yeah, I don't know even know how to adjust yet. I want to help people, but I don't know who I need to be to do that. And..." Korra blinks, focusing on Asami. Asami watches her intently, her features composed, showing maybe a hint of a smile on her lips and a depth of emotion Korra can't quite place in her eyes. "And I am _so_ sorry, I'm babbling on and on about myself!"

Asami giggles. She tosses her head, her hair flowing out around her. She sniffs, and adopts a haughty tone that reminds Korra of Heng. "Yes, who _do_ you think you are, Avatar Korra? The most important person in the world? Why would anyone be interested in you freely sharing your unique insights?"

"I mean, it's not _insight_ , more...confusion. And I, ah, talk a lot when I'm nervous..." Korra laughs, though she can feel her face get hot again. She looks away, only for her face to burn even hotter when she sees Aang giving her a thumbs up. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Asami says cheerfully. "I asked. And it...sounded like you needed to talk."

"Maybe I do." Korra rubs the back of her neck. "It's...nice, talking to someone outside the whole Avatar...thing. You'd be amazed at how hard it can be to find someone to talk to, even when you're surrounded by people every day."

"Hi!" Asami says brightly, thrusting out her hand. "Asami _Sato_. Yes, that Sato. Nice to meet you!"

"Riiiight..." Korra coughs out an embarrassed laugh. She quickly shakes Asami's hand. "So your dad is--"

"My father is the founder and CEO of Future Industries, inventor of the Satomobile, and constantly surrounded by sycophants who want access to his wealth, his insight or his product line." Asami sighs, the weary little puff of breath enough to drain some of the bitterness out of her voice. "That's...the kind of people I find in my social circle, too."

"Well..." Korra shrugs, unsure what to say. "At least your friends are, y'know, not invisible ghosts who make you look crazy when you talk to them in public."

"True!" Asami shakes herself, putting on a bright smile. "Though I wouldn't call many of the people I know _friends_ , exactly...but I should be more grateful for everything I have. Thank you for the reminder, my wise Avatar!"

"Yeah, wise! That's me!" Korra chuckles, rubbing at the back of her neck and carefully avoiding looking anywhere where she might make eye contact with one of her past lives. "On that subject...which way am I supposed to be going? I have no clue where anything is in this place."

"Right!" Asami ducks her head, letting her hair fall like a curtain between them, hiding her face for a moment. "Ah, it's this way!"

"She's blushing," Aang says cheerfully, appearing at Korra's side as Asami leads them through the beautifully tended garden in the centre of the school's grounds and into a series of corridors. "In case you were wondering."

"I wasn't, shut up, go away! You are the most _embarrassing_ Avatar and so not my favourite anymore!" Korra hisses at him.

"It's obvious that you _were_ wondering," Avatar Remora says, laughing. "Even to people who don't reside in your...I'm sorry, since when was _Aang_ your favourite? Korra, you told me _I_ was your favourite!"

"I, uh...well, that is... " Korra darts a nervous glance between a smiling Aang and a scowling Remora. She thrusts out her jaw stubbornly. "My new favourite is going to be the one who stops pestering me! Shoo!"

"But your spirit is still in turmoil," protests Roku behind her. "You clearly need--"

"You're the ones turning me moiled!" Korra whispers fiercely, making sure Asami isn't looking before she turns and shakes a fist at Roku. "I was unmoiled a minute ago! And now I'm all moiled up!"

"Are you communing again?" Asami says, glancing back at Korra, her eyes bright with curiosity, her dark red lips curled into a smirk. "I can hear you muttering."

"Ah, haha, yeah! Communing!" Korra glares at Aang, who grins sunnily at her. "I guess I'm still nervous about this school thing. They're _trying_ to help."

"It's...incredible. That you can do that. I always thought that it must be nice," Asami says softly, her eyes growing distant. "Being able to talk to...people from your past like that. People who understand what you're going through. I always wondered if there was a way to talk to someone you couldn't really get to know properly when they were--"

She cuts herself off, but even incomplete, there's a weight to Asami's words and the way she says them that settles on Korra's shoulders and sends lightning dancing under her skin.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have..." Asami suddenly laughs, the sound brittle and false. She comes to a halt at a pair of sliding halls. "Never mind. Here we are! The assembly hall!"

"Asami..." Korra hesitates. She's aware of the confusion behind her, and keenly aware of Asami a couple of paces away, her hand on one of the doors, her eyebrows raised. Korra is suddenly aware of _right now_ in a way she has rarely ever been. Korra can feel the edge of something she doesn't understand, but it feels important. Too important, perhaps, for her to fumble at now. She and Asami are strangers to each other. Whatever weird instinct Korra feels, maybe later would be a better time to explore it.

A hand settles on her shoulder. It's a hand she knows belongs to a ghost but is far heavier than most of her past lives'. Even though Korra was a tiny little girl, not yet living in the compound, the last time this past life interacted with her, Korra knows exactly who she'll see if she looks back and up and a little further up.

"Korra, the now is always slipping away," says the voice who first pointed out Asami, the voice Korra now recognises as Avatar Kyoshi. "To live well is to know when to hold on and when to let go. We of the past may advise, but this is your now. You must choose."

For a moment, Kyoshi's hand feels warm and almost real on Korra's shoulder. That moment passes, but Korra finds herself standing upright and squaring her shoulders. 

"Asami..." Korra clears her throat. "Are you busy later? After classes, I mean."

"Oh!" A smirk tugs at the corner of Asami's mouth. "Extremely busy, yes."

"Oh! Right, yeah. Of course you are! Well, uh...maybe some time, when you're not _extremely_ busy, but maybe just slightly busy, with maybe a little spare time, we could...do something?"

"Something," Asami says, her smirk becoming more pronounced. "Hmm."

"I, ah, don't really know the city yet, or know what there is to do, although I guess there's always eating?" Korra rubs at the back of her neck, studiously avoiding eye contact with any of the hundred ghosts who surround her. "You eat, right?"

"Mhm." Asami covers her mouth with her hand, and coughs. "I do. Two or three times a day, in fact!"

"Right! Great!" Korra wipes some sweat from her brow. "So, uh, if you'd like, we could...have a meal in the same place at the same time some time? Maybe?"

It takes effort not to turn and yell at the ghosts audibly groaning behind Korra.

"We could do that!" Asami smiles brightly. "Would we be sharing a table, or...?"

Now Korra groans, but she coughs out a laugh when she sees how bright Asami's eyes have become, and how Asami is fighting back a grin. "I hope so! I, uh, I'd like it if we could get to know each other."

"Well, in that case, let me tell you my motto." Asami grins, and it's easily one of the most charming expressions that Korra has ever seen. "My motto is: I'm never too busy for the Avatar. So, if you did want to get food after school today...?"

"Yes, definitely!" Korra is too pumped up to able to resist fist-pumping in triumph. Asami doesn't hide her laughter this time, but Korra is swimming in a sea of happy feelings, so she really doesn't mind. "I, uh, I mean, that sounds good."

"Alright, well we'd better go--"

"Sorry, just one other thing..." Korra bites her lip, but Kyoshi's hand settles on her shoulder again. It's joined by others, dozen of others, clapping Korra's shoulders, her arms, her back. Korra sucks in a breath, then softly says, "If you want to talk about _your_ ghost, I'll listen."

Asami freezes, her smile vanishing.

Korra holds up her hands, palms out. "I won't ask. And you don't have to tell me. But you can. I...may have a unique relationship with my past lives, but I know that everyone carries little pieces of the past around with them all the time. It's best to be in the moment, because that's where we live, that's where we're alive! But, uh, everyone can bring the past to life for a little while, just by talking about it. And that can be good, too."

Asami stares at her for what feels like a very long time. Eventually, she clears her throat and says, "Which...ah, which avatar said that?"

"This one." Korra points at herself, smiling sheepishly. "I, ah, learned some things, growing up with ghosts."

"How..." Asami pauses. She turns her head away, fiddles with her hair, then looks back at Korra, smiling stiffly. "How do you feel about Fire Nation cuisine?"

"I love it! I mean, I've never tried it, but it's food, and I love food, so I'm sure it'll be great!"

Asami laughs, throwing back her head again, tension melting from her shoulders. It eases tension out of Korra, too, and as her muscles loosen, her past lives let go of her, retreating from the moment back into wherever it is they reside when Korra doesn't need them.

Before she goes, Kyoshi leans down, whispering in Korra's ear. "I think you have made a wise choice, Avatar."

The last to go is Aang, who contents himself with a wink and a grin before he saunters into the sky, vanishing from sight.

Asami recovers her composure, looking Korra over with a wide, genuine smile. "I think I know the perfect place for later, then. And I'm...really looking forward to it. But for now..."

"Yeah! School!"

Asami offers Korra her arm. Bemused, Korra slips hers through Asami's. Together, they slide the doors to the assembly hall open. Together, they step out of one now and into the next.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, folks!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, and that you have not judged me a fool undeserving of the privilege of possessing bones for bringing this fic into the light of day. Perhaps you could inform me of your opinion, in the comments below maybe?!? That would be lovely!


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